Qatar’s Hamad Port, operated by QTerminals, has crossed the 1,000,000 TEUs throughput milestone in less than a year of operation.
The record was marked by Danish-flagged containership MV Maersk Bentonville which loaded the one millionth TEU before it headed to Salalah, Oman on March 19.
“With the support of our partners, we are on target to achieve the 2 million TEU’s throughput objective this year by attracting new direct and other services to Hamad Port, ” a statement from the port reads.
QTerminals was established by Qatar Navigation (Milaha) and Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) in November 2016 to operate the first phase of the port and inaugurated in September 2017.
Neville Bissett was appointed the company’s first Chief Executive Officer in November 2017.
In its first phase, the USD 7.4 billion port aims to reach the capability of handling 2 million TEUs annually. The capacity is expected to rise to 7.5 million TEUs upon scheduled completion in 2020.
Hamad Port, located 40km south of Doha, spans 28.5 square kilometers, and has the capacity to berth large contanerships.
The project will help Qatar to directly import goods from China and Oman instead of transhipping them via Dubai.
World Maritime News Staff; Image Courtesy: QTerminals